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My first impression of this book came very quickly, I could very easily have been reading another title from the Microsoft Press, with the way that the author sets up Microsoft as being the savour of all perils! Early on within the book, there is what is in my mind, a very weak reason for using VBScript over JavaScript. After describing several examples and laying out every variable available under VBScript, the author gives a quick guided tour of how a program is actually put together (sequence, decision, loop, etc.).

My biggest criticisms of this title has to be the vast amount of example code printed, especially when all the examples are contained on the accompanying CD. With chapters like, 'Date and Time in VBScript' I get the impression that this book is not really aimed at professional programmers, but more at home web publishers who want to add a little razzmatazz to their web pages. Saying that, the book did the job for me when I was given a project to add some code to a few Intranet pages; the information on the differences between the different 'compatible' VB versions came in very useful. In addition, I found the Appendix on writing VBScript for Active Server pages interesting, if somewhat short.

This is a great book for beginners who are looking to start programming with VB Script and do not plan to do a great deal with it. You could very easily be left a little cold if you have programming experience previously. Unfortunately, not one of the best O'Reilly books I have seen.